Redate
by Canadino
Summary: Of course, the simple decision of whether or not to get back together is a grand ordeal that requires the opinion of everyone involved. AkaMido, jobs!AU


**Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the story idea and only some of the witty remarks. I own so little; so please don't steal.**

Background music: -

[=]

"Shin-chan still has feelings for you, you know."

Akashi Seijuro, famed professional shogi player who happened to frequent a local neighborhood clinic because of asthma some speculated originated from cooping up in dusty, dank rooms playing Japanese chess all day, had a face that said _insolent receptionist, know your place_ but his voice did not betray such thoughts. "What are you talking about?" he asked politely, his voice level.

"Isn't it like that?" Takao shrugged, the movement of his shoulders shifting the name tag on his chest. "I know you and Shin-chan used to date in middle school, and a little in high school."

"How would you know something like that?"

"He~llo," Takao sang, winking conspiringly. "We dated for a while. Don't pretend you didn't notice me stealing kisses whenever you were filling out paperwork. It's natural we talked about this sort of thing." He shrugged again and accepted the clipboard Akashi handed to him. "Now that we've broken up, I think you should know and you know...do what it is that people who realize their feelings for each other do. Date or whatever."

"I don't think you have any place to tell me what to do," Akashi replied. "What sort of newly broken-up couple begins dating immediately after?"

"It's okay, we're not that traditional," Takao grinned. "I say go for it! The doctor will see you now."

Midorima had slid the stethoscope across Akashi's chest when the man asked: "What if we dated again?"

Midorima did not bat an eyelash. "Would that make you happy?" he asked, jotting down a few notes, before resuming his check-up.

"I wonder," Akashi mused.

[=]

"Tetsuya, were you aware that Shintarou and I were seeing each other in middle school?"

Kuroko barely even looked up from his milkshake as he texted away at Kagami - a move he only dared in public as he knew Akashi could not hurt him without suffering some sort of consequence (a famous shogi player could not maim someone for insolence or disrespect unless in private). "I thought that was what the 'shogi meetings' were all about."

"We actually played shogi during those times."

"That's news to everyone on the team at the time."

"Do you mean to say everyone thought we were having at each other, for lack of a better way to describe it, during our captain meetings?"

Kuroko looked up, a little exasperated. "Akashi-kun, I thought you knew this and that was why you never brought them up. We always made bets on who topped each time and concluded that you two must have been amazing with great amounts of stamina since neither of you showed any sign of it afterwards."

"It didn't pass through any of your minds that perhaps we were not having sex during our meetings?"

Kuroko directed his attention back to his milkshake. "It was an interesting and entertaining thought at the time."

"You don't feel any hesitation telling me this twelve years later?"

"Akashi-kun, I'm surrounded by toddlers all the time. I think I've learned the real meaning of fear when it comes to making sure none of them suffer some grisly death at the kindergarten." He pressed _send_ and looked up again. "Why are you suddenly bringing this up again?"

"I'm asking your opinion about whether or not we should date again."

Kuroko made a face. "A man who can calculate the exact number of winning moves on a chess board is asking me about whether or not he should be romantically involved with someone else? Are you sure you're okay, Akashi-kun?"

"I don't remember requesting your attitude, Tetsuya."

[=]

Kise Ryouta visited Midorima's clinic because as a relatively high-profile individual, he needed somewhere he could trust not to expose his medical records of his various colds and such in case they were recorded and used against him (the reasons why did not have to be clear, but he was good at thinking up dramatic situations). The transition from popular model to high flying pilot was not going well since he had forgotten in between that he was afraid of heights.

"Midorimacchi, you've dropped your pen three times already~! What's bothering you?"

Midorima did not give Kise a death glare. That would disrepute his clinic for causing the untimely death of a patient. "That is none of your business, Kise."

"Come on, doctor-patient confidentiality!"

"That doesn't work that way."

"We're friends, aren't we?"

"Comrades at most."

Kise threw a very adult-like tantrum on the examination table. "If you must know," Midorima huffed, before Kise could knock the things off the walls, "Akashi asked me if I would like to date him again. Are you satisfied?"

Kise fell off the examination table. Midorima massaged his temples. This happened every time Kise visited. "Akashicchi?" he yelped, bringing Takao running with bandages in hand. "What!"

"Yes, must I repeat myself constantly with you?"

"Again, though! You two dated before?" Kise pointed an accusing finger at Midorima. "Why didn't you tell any of us!"

"None of you asked and it was not important."

Kise shrieked unnecessarily again. He was proving not to be very helpful in the slightest, but Midorima was not expecting any less. "He seems to be the type of person who would make a fuss after you specifically tell him not to," Takao observed.

"That isn't even the tip of the iceberg," Midorima muttered, as Kise began breathing rapidly. "Get him a paper bag, Takao."

[=]

The neighborhood liked to say that the local kindergarten was well protected with an officer constantly posted at the gates. Kuroko did not like to say that Aomine was just lazy and enjoyed putting off finishing his patrol by lingering to chat with him.

"I heard from the grapevine that the Generation of Miracles is a mess right now over some juicy new gossip."

"Is that what you're calling it?" Kuroko asked, taking a drag from his cigarette. Nap times doubled as smoking breaks. Midorima and Aomine disagreed with him for health reasons; Kagami just didn't want him to set the apartment on fire. "Your calls from Kise? 'The grapevine'?"

"Shut your mouth, Tetsu. Midorima and Akashi, though. My best friend being in a committed relationship, okay, I can handle, I'm totally supportive - primarily because of the food and Kagami's okay at basketball - but this, I can't. Our old resident stick-in-the-mud and tyrant, getting together, having sex, going on dates? I can't even imagine either of them in any sort of relationship."

"Midorima-kun and Takao-kun were together for a while a while ago."

"Really?"

"You're really slow, aren't you, Aomine-kun?" Kuroko was getting better at scathing looks. He was giving one particularly good one to Aomine with the cigarette between his lips. He looked like a total punk, like the ones Aomine always hustled away from street corners and shops. Kuroko was a real hit with parents, though.

"Takao, though, he was cool. He was really laid-back. But Midorima and Akashi...together, I just can't see it."

"They were together in middle school."

"Am I the last to find out all this?"

"Probably." Kuroko put out his cigarette on the sidewalk and kicked it off the curb. "You were the last one to know Kagami and I had been living together for three years and even then you couldn't put one and one together that we were dating since college. This information about Midorima and Akashi-kun isn't even important to you."

"That's not true," Aomine protested. "And you shouldn't litter."

"Get over yourself, Aomine-kun."

[=]

Akashi did not even like sweets. The smell of sugar did not appeal to him as it did to most people. But Murasakibara was more of a sage than he appeared, so whenever he was feeling frustrated and shogi was not enough to satiate a troubled mind, Akashi stepped down the street and sat in Murasakibara's bakery for a few hours. Murasakibara accommodated accordingly and offered him tiramisu with dark chocolate and skipped out on generous heaps of sugar.

"What's on your mind, Aka-chin?" As expected, after years and years of spending time with Akashi, Murasakibara had learned to tell the man's carefully concealed moods from one another. The only other person who had acquired this skill was Midorima. Akashi bit into the savory crepe Murasakibara had handed to him the moment he walked into the kitchen and chewed thoughtfully before answering. Murasakibara beat egg whites as he waited.

"I was wondering if I should start something again, is all," Akashi said finally. "I made mistakes the first time around and I'm weighing my options and both ways lead to equally tolerable and desirable ends."

Murasakibara hummed in understanding and continued whipping up a flavorful concoction and did not answer, so Akashi had thought he'd put the topic aside until he was watching Murasakibara ice the cupcakes and the confectionist said, "Relationships are like baking."

"Come again?"

"Both need careful care to make sure you don't mess up. One wrong thing can turn a cake into yucky things. But the thing is, you can't give up because if you keep trying, you'll make something really yummy." He handed Akashi a newly iced cupcake. "Do you know what that is?"

"A cupcake," Akashi said, before specifying as Murasakibara gave him a blank look, "A cupcake with...it appears...lily of the valley?"

"Do you know what that flower means?"

"The return of happiness," Akashi mused. "Or love's good fortune, along with other meanings." He looked up at the man, who loomed above him in a white chef's apron. "Have you known all this time?"

"Aka-chin thinks he's really secretive, but it's not so hard to tell at all," Murasakibara said, turning back to his cupcakes. "Like this is not a hard problem to answer either."

[=]

Midorima was fairly certain that when he'd scanned the street before he closed and locked the clinic for the night, there was no one around, but when he turned after turning the key in the lock, Akashi was standing a distance away as fleeting as ever, holding a small box and said, "Shintarou, we need to talk."

He took Akashi to his duplex and made tea as his old basketball captain situated himself in the living room. When he returned with the kettle and two mugs, the box had been opened to reveal a neat, fancy cupcake.

"Did you visit Murasakibara?" Midorima asked conversationally, placing the cups down and starting to pour the tea.

"I think we should date again," Akashi broke in, and Midorima missed the cup completely and poured tea all over the table. He ought to have expected no less, as Akashi was not one for small talk. Akashi repeated himself after they cleaned up the spill.

"Have you been thinking about this all this time?"

"Yes," Akashi said, completely honest and deadpan. "I have been giving it much thought as of late."

"And it would make you happy?"

"Yes."

"And did you consider if I would be happy?"

Akashi paused. "I would assume so," he said after a moment.

"You making decisions for me because you knew what was best for me was why we broke up in the first place, Akashi."

Akashi's straight face faltered, and for a moment he looked utterly lost for words. "I know a lot about you," he began again, though this time much less fast to answer than before. "For example, I know you've been working overtime a lot lately. You've got slower reaction time because your body is tired..."

"That's what I'm talking about."

Akashi bit his lip. "I might have miscalculated."

Midorima sighed and bit into the cupcake. "Lily of the valley," he said, as Akashi looked troubled for a second. "That was your favorite flower, wasn't it?"

Akashi blinked. "Yes, it was."

"I thought it was a little ironic, the whole part of it. It's beautiful, but it's poisonous. It's a representation of a pure maiden's tears, but I've never once seen you cry. It's generally a pure meaning flower."

"Are you trying to say something, Shintarou?" But Midorima put a hand up and Akashi fell silent.

"I learned it from trial and error, and from watching you. So I knew the type of corsage for your graduation banquet. And I've remembered all this time." Midorima took another bite from the cupcake. "Is it still your favorite?"

Akashi thought about it. "I haven't really looked at flowers lately."

"I think the local botanical garden has a few types of lily of the valley. If you're free on Saturday, we could go together to look at them."

Akashi studied him. Midorima was calm, his heart rate was normal, and his movements were smooth and ordinary, but there was something else his eyes couldn't see but he could sense: the same feeling he got when Midorima first approached him and stammered out awkwardly his proposition for their first date.

"I'd like that."

[=]

Note: Written originally as 6 separate pieces on tumblr that were related...I hadn't planned this I am not a writer.


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